Caleb

by Willow Hazel

  “Oh, I kind of remember him. What about him?”

  “He thought you might be a True Sons spy.”

  “A spy?” Sarah groaned and facepalmed. “I’m really starting to wish I’d picked a thesis concerning preschool education or something.”

  “Nah. Kids are more annoying than werewolves.”

  Sarah actually let out a laugh. He was glad to see her smile.

  Chapter Ten

  A half-hour later, Sarah sat on Caleb’s leather couch in his living room. His apartment above Devil’s Den was bigger than she would have expected. Two bedrooms, even, though he didn’t have much in the way of decoration.

  Still, something about the brown and beige, along with the faint woodsy scent, struck her as very cozy and masculine. Very bachelor at least.

  The whole place just felt… like him. Maybe that was a silly thing to think given that she didn’t know him all that well, but it also didn’t feel wrong.

  Caleb emerged from his kitchen with two bottles of beers. He offered her one. “Nothing like a little booze to help you calm down after a werewolf attack.” He grinned.

  Sarah wanted to be annoyed at him making light of the situation, but it was hard to be angry with a man who’d just saved her life. Well, a werewolf who had saved her life.

  She accepted the bottle and gulped down the amber liquid, praying for a little alcohol to help her get over everything that had just happened. Caleb plopped down on the couch near her, close enough that his faint and enticing sandalwood scent reached her.

  Her eyes drifted to his muscular arms, and she resisted the urge to lick her lips at the sight. She was just spun up from the attack. That’s what she kept telling herself anyway.

  Pointing his beer toward one of the rooms, Caleb said, “I have a guest room there. Sometimes some of the pack members crash there, so there’s a bed already. Not gonna say it’s the nicest bed, but it’s better than nothing, and it shouldn’t smell too bad.”

  “That kind of describes my apartment.” She shrugged. “I’ve been living pretty cheaply since starting graduate school.”

  “Well, mi casa es su casa. Too bad you had to find out about all this crap the hard way.”

  “Things could be worse,” Sarah said. “I might be finding out all of this from the True Sons.”

  Caleb’s expression darkened briefly before a smile reappeared, even if it looked a bit forced. “Those bitches got what they had coming to them.”

  Sarah didn’t know how to reply to that, so she just watched him for a brief second appreciating how handsome his face was. He had no scars, and considering how familiar he seemed with fighting, she found herself wondering if he could even get scars.

  “So anything else you need?” Caleb said, cutting into her thoughts.

  “How long do you think I’ll have to stay here?”

  Caleb gulped down half his beer before responding with a shrug. “Not sure. Probably a few weeks.”

  Sarah winced. “A few weeks?”

  He shrugged. “You thought this was what, going to be a twenty-four hour thing?”

  She sighed. “I don’t know what I thought. Just a few weeks is a long time.”

  Caleb shrugged. “Hey, if I could get the True Sons to behave before then, I would, but I don’t even know where their home base is. I’m going to have pack members searching, but we’re not even sure they have a place in Glendale.”

  Sarah took another sip of her beer. “Can’t you just call like the dragon police and report them or something?”

  He belted out a laugh. “Yeah, it doesn’t quite work that way. Hell, I’m kind of glad it doesn’t work that way.”

  Sarah nodded, more curious to learn than annoyed. “Well, how does it work? From what you said, you obviously have some sort of organization. If it was just anarchy, you’d have been found out a long time ago.”

  “Mostly shifters are supposed to keep each other in check. And that crap works, mostly. Shit, a dragon showed up to warn us about the True Sons and even told us that the King of Maricopa County considered it a test.”

  Sarah stared at Caleb for a moment. “The King of Maricopa County?” She didn’t bother to hide the surprise in her tone. “Are you serious?”

  Another laugh escaped Caleb. “Yeah, it’s funny as hell when you think about it, but hey, dragons like their titles.”

  “You said vampires aren’t real, but there are weredragons. Are there other werecreatures?”

  “Sure, tons out there. Wolves are some of the most common. Why? Hell if I know. Got the dragons of course and a whole freaking mess of other shifters. Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my and all that.”

  Sarah finished off her beer, a pleasant buzz starting to settle over her. “It just seems so weird that this could all be happening and most people don’t know about it. I mean, everyone has cameras and the internet now, so you think it would have leaked.”

  “Is it really so weird? I mean think about all the stuff that normal people do that people don’t know about. And do you think people would believe this crap without seeing it with their own eyes?” Caleb shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me. Guess I’m just used to it all being hidden.”

  “From what you said before, it sounded like you’ve always known you were a werewolf.”

  “Yeah, I was raised by a werewolf.” Caleb tapped his nose. “We can smell the difference from birth. So my dad knew.”

  “But you didn’t change until you were thirteen.”

  “Yep. Dad and my mom got me ready for it.”

  “Huh. I can’t even begin to think about what that would be like.”

  “Just like any other kid’s life, I suppose. I just knew I had to keep quiet about certain things.”

  Silence stretched between them as Sarah processed what he’d told her.

  “How did this all start?” she said, breaking the silence. “I mean have there been shifters from before civilization?” She shook her head. “I wonder if there were fossils of shifters, but shifters hid them.” Her eyes widened. “I wonder if some dinosaurs are actually weredragon ancestors.”

  Caleb took a sip of his beer. “Hell if I know. I don’t even think the dragons know. There’s all sorts of legends out there that talk about how we’re supposed to be descendants of ancient gods from the dawn of history, but it’s just legend and myth.” He shrugged. “Kind of like normal religion. Some people believe it, some people don’t. All sorts of different theories and legends.”

  “And you? What do you believe?”

  “Gotta be blind to not see that we’re something special, but it doesn’t really matter what I believe.” He shrugged. “Doesn’t mean much day to day though. I just try to live my life and keep my pack safe. Dragons like it nice and quiet, and they’ve put a lot of money and time into keeping it nice and quiet, so it works out for all of us. Since we tend to stick mostly to our own kind, it doesn’t end up being a huge problem for most shifters.”

  Now pleasantly drunk, Sarah leaned over and rested her head on Caleb’s shoulder. He furrowed his brow, but then put his arm around her and grinned. She wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol, or his nice smell, or the simple fact he’d saved her from some awful bikers earlier, but she felt so safe around him.

  “Thank you,” she said quietly.

  “For what?”

  “For saving me.” She sighed. “I don’t understand a lot about how your culture and rules work, but I’m not an idiot. I know you probably could have just tossed me in a closet and told your King that I was a threat to secrecy.”

  A growl vibrated low in Caleb’s throat. It didn’t scare Sarah. Embarrassingly, her nipples hardened at the sound. She hoped he didn’t notice. Something about the sound just seemed so possessive of her.

  Then again, there was just something about Caleb. The way he made her feel was something she hadn’t felt ever really. Yes, she was attracted to him, but that was probably just a combination of alcohol and excitement from the day. Or so she told herself. But there was someth
ing more to it. A connection she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

  “Dragons might throw their weight around,” Caleb said, “but wolves make our own choices, and alphas make their own decisions for their pack. Like I said, we’ll protect you.”

  Sarah smiled softly. “Well, I’ll have to make up some excuse for my thesis advisor, but he’s not exactly the most hands-on guy, so I’m sure I can think of something, but what am I supposed to do, just sit in your apartment all day?”

  A broad grin spread over Caleb’s face. “One of my pack members has been complaining about us not having a sexy waitress.”

  Sarah wanted to be more defiant, but just hearing him imply he found her sexy sent a zip to her center. She’d never been particularly dismissive of her looks, but at the same time, she never thought of herself as all that sexy.

  Now, though, a man who could have been ripped straight from her dreams was suggesting she was.

  She looked up at him. “I’m not going to wear a tied-off shirt or something.”

  Caleb laughed. “Seriously, though, if you want to work, I can pay you, and you’ll have something to do. Always some pack members here, so you’ll be safe.”

  “I waitressed during my undergrad,” she said. “Then I went to work in an office job, before returning to school, but not like I don’t remember how to do it.”

  “Sounds like a plan then,” Caleb said.

  “How weird,” Sarah mumbled.

  “What?”

  “A couple days ago, I was just a normal grad student, and now I’m a waitress at a werewolf bar.”

  Caleb chuckled. “Sounds pretty normal to me.”

  Sarah sat up. She already missed the warmth of Caleb’s body. “Well, I’m going to call my advisor and feed him a line. If all goes well, you’ll have your sexy waitress.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “I need two more whiskeys,” Sarah said, approaching the bar. “Same cheap-ass brand.” She rolled her eyes.

  Caleb resisted laughing. In the weeks since she’d started working at Devil’s Den, she’d developed some definite opinions on acceptable and unacceptable drink choices. He didn’t give a crap as long as people ordered a lot.

  He glanced across the room to see if the customers had heard her, but if they had, they showed no indication.

  He poured the glasses, and Sarah placed them on a tray before leaving with a wink.

  Caleb continued to be impressed by the woman. Despite all the strangeness of learning about shifters, she’d taken to waitressing at Devil’s Den and didn’t have much trouble with customers, whether they were college kids slumming or the rougher crowd. It might have helped that any man who looked at her the wrong way got stink eye from him, though.

  Sure, he would have preferred to see her in some Daisy Dukes and a tied-off shirt, but she still looked sexy enough in her jeans, boots, and t-shirt. Even the pony-tail she wore when she worked sent a little fire to his loins. Not that her hair down was all that bad either.

  He resisted a growl. The truth was, he liked her no matter what she looked like. It was taking all his self-control not to march into her room at night and tell her how much he wanted to plant himself inside her.

  When she returned to the bar with the empty glasses, Sarah shot him a smile. “Slow night.”

  “Sometimes that’s for the best,” Caleb said, glancing at the door.

  They hadn’t heard anything from the True Sons since their attack on Sarah. That set Caleb on edge more than anything. He’d expected the bikers to reply with a show of force, and now it was like they’d vanished into thin air.

  He liked to think that he’d scared them off, but there was no way an alpha like Jake would run off just because Caleb took down two of his guys.

  Greg hadn’t shown up to chew him out about taking them down, and they hadn’t seen anything in the news, so apparently the two other men had managed to get away from the area without cops or paramedics finding them.

  “You know what the real problem is with slow nights?” Sarah asked.

  “What?”

  “Crappier tips.” She sighed.

  “Not like I’m short-changing you,” Caleb said with a shrug. “Hey, any problems with your boss at the college?”

  “I keep telling you, he’s my advisor, not my boss, and no. But as far as he’s concerned I’m doing embedded data collection with thesis-relevant informants.”

  “Yeah, whatever the hell that means.”

  “The point is, he doesn’t care, and he thinks I’m doing something useful for my research.”

  “And he’s not worried that you’ve been away for weeks?”

  “Not like he checks my apartment. He sent me a text earlier this week, and I told him I was doing fine.” She shrugged.

  Sarah smirked and leaned over the bar. Her shirt hung just low enough to reveal some of her delicious cleavage. Caleb hardened at the sight. He realized that her not wearing Daisy Dukes was a good thing. He wouldn’t be able to get anything done otherwise.

  “I didn’t tell you this before,” she said, her voice low. “But he ran a background check on you.”

  “A background check? Seriously?”

  “Yeah, guess he wanted to make sure you weren’t some heinous criminal.”

  “I probably am that.” Caleb chuckled. “What did he find?”

  “Nothing.” She stared at him. “Makes me wonder if there’s nothing to find or… people made it go away.”

  He offered her a grin. “Maybe you’ll never know.” A little animal magnetism and the occasional favor from another shifter or two went a long way from keeping the law off you.

  Sarah tilted her head, a seductive grin on her face. “Maybe there’s some way to find out. Something I can do to make you want to talk.”

  Caleb’s cock hardened even more. Despite sleeping so close to a Blooded every night, and her scent calling to him, he’d made no moves, as she hadn’t seemed that interested. The truth was, he wanted the woman to want him as much as he wanted her, and she was either playing it cool before or had changed her mind because in the last few days, she’d been flirting with him a lot more.

  “Oh, maybe I just need the proper motivation,” Caleb said.

  “I could…” Her cheeks reddened, and she turned away. “Sorry, that was… I’m sorry.” She slapped her cheeks lightly. “Damn it. I wish I could say I’m drunk, but I don’t even have that excuse.”

  “Don’t be sorry.” Caleb grunted. “’Cause I’m not. Look, I’m not going to lie. Even if you weren’t…” He glanced over at a nearby table. “Even if you weren’t special, you’re still hot as sin.”

  Still red as a tomato, Sarah gave him a shallow nod. “Let’s just say you’re not exactly far from my type.”

  “Then what’s the problem then? You got a boyfriend?”

  “No, I don’t. It’s just—”

  The front door opened, and three men came in. From the look of it, they were construction workers just getting off work.

  “We’ll talk about it later,” Sarah said with a sigh. She grabbed some napkins and headed over toward the three new arrivals as they sat at a table.

  Caleb bit back a growl. Tonight, he needed to make his damn move.

  * * *

  After closing time, Caleb trudged up his stairs and entered his apartment. The sound of running water from the shower greeted him. Sarah had come up about thirty minutes earlier.

  He wasn’t surprised. She always liked to take a shower right after finishing up for the night. After two weeks of living together, they’d already developed their own little routines.

  Caleb sucked in a breath at the thought of the water cascading down her head, flowing over her face, and running down her body, rivulets tracing her breasts and moving down her body to her shapely legs. His cock strained hard against his jeans.

  He considered ripping off his clothes and marching straight into the shower with her. Thought about what it’d be like to brace her against the wall as he shoved int
o that tight little pussy of hers from behind. Too bad his shower was too damn small for that.

  A low, sustained growl vibrated his entire chest. Damn, how he wanted Sarah.

  Her Blooded scent permeated the apartment now. Unlike below, there weren’t as many scents to interfere, the result being every time he came back to his place he thought about Sarah and how much he needed to sink into her.

  The water stopped, and Caleb walked into the kitchen to grab a beer. It didn’t matter that he worked in a bar. There was just something about drinking a bottle from your own refrigerator.

  Sarah strolled into the kitchen in a soft robe, black strands of her wet hair hanging loosely against her face and neck. She shot him a warm smile.

  Caleb inhaled deeply, enjoying her scent. If anything, now that she’d taken a shower, it was stronger.

  She looked to the side. “How long do you think this is going to last?”

  “What?” He shook his head, trying to take his mind off the idea that she was naked underneath the robe.

  “It’s been a couple of weeks now. At some point, you know, I have to continue living my life, sad and limited as it is.”

  Caleb shrugged. “I have the some of pack out searching. Once the True Sons come up for air, then we’ll deal with them, one way or another.”

  He put his beer on the counter and walked over to her. Towering over her, he stared down intently.

  “Is it really so bad being here?” Caleb said, his voice low. He locked gazes with her, staring into her blue eyes.

  “No, it’s not, it’s just, I don’t like being…”

  “Being what?”

  “Being in limbo, not knowing.” Sarah blinked several times and looked away. “I’m supposed to be collecting information for my thesis.” She ran a hand through her wet black hair. “So even if this is all over, I’ll still be behind. I just…”

  “Just what?”

  She blew out a soft sigh. “I don’t know. It seems so weird to worry about going back to school now with everything I now know, and it’s not like I can change my thesis to be on werewolf society.”